What will you learn today?

Several years ago I was speaking for a client in Las Vegas. After speaking late in the afternoon, I attended an awards dinner with the employees of the company. After the awards program concluded, I was leaving the ballroom and was stopped by a young lady in the hallway. She said, "I have a quick question for you, Clint." I recognized her from the afternoon session, so I was prepared to answer a question regarding my program.

"What did you learn today?", she asked. Somewhat surprised and confused by her question, I responded, "What do you mean?" She replied, "You gave a great presentation today. While your humor made us laugh, your content challenged us to really think about how we lead. And since you mentioned the importance of learning in the program, I'm curious what you learned today."

I thought about it for a moment, answered her question, and returned to my room for the evening. The rest of the night I thought about her question and how it applies to us all. We're all doing the "teaching". If you're the boss, your employees and co-workers are learning from you. If you're the parent, your children are learning from you. If you find yourself as the one providing direction, who's teaching you? Who's teaching the teacher?

I learned that day that no matter what your role may be, at the end of every day you should be able to answer her simple question. So as you go through your day dealing with the routine challenges, prepare yourself to answer that question --- what did you learn today?